We begin with this not because it is the most
important strategy, but because it is a critical part of the preparation we
believe is necessary for ecclesial theologians. The costs of a PhD—financial,
emotional, familial—are significant and not to be taken lightly. For some, a
PhD may not be possible or prudent. Yet those who aspire to be ecclesial
theologians should think seriously about pursuing a PhD. True, Karl Barth
didn’t have PhD. But until you’ve written something remotely akin to his Römerbrief,
you should probably get on with getting one; it will almost certainly be
necessary for pursuing the sort of vision we’ve laid out for the ecclesial
theologian. We say this for at least three reasons.

1. Training. The PhD offers a regimen of
disciplined training that would be very difficult to get independently. Despite
the limitations of social location, academic scholars know their business,
namely, research. The task of the ecclesial theologian will likely be less
focused research than that of an academic scholar; yet locating and properly
handling primary and secondary sources is vital to the work of the ecclesial
theologian, and academic theologians are best positioned to provide tutelage in
this area. To be sure, the theological method of the academy is not always
congruous with the theological method we envision for the ecclesial theologian.
And in this sense, pursuing a PhD as training for becoming an ecclesial
theologian may be a bit like a long-distance runner training for a triathlon;
it won’t be an exact match. But at present, the academy is still the best
training out there for acquiring the sort of research competency we envision
being necessary for ecclesial theologians. This competency and experience can
be accomplished in limited measures through an MA or an MDiv; but anyone who
has done a PhD will tell you that the requirements of a postgraduate research
degree push beyond anything seen at a graduate level.

2. Networking. Working on a PhD will
broaden your network of relationships with other thinkers and scholars,
particularly with academic theologians. In keeping with our comments in the
previous chapter, your ongoing work as an ecclesial theologian will need to be
carried out in partnership with academic theologians. Involvement in a PhD
program helps to establish relationships with other scholars—both ecclesial and
academic—and connects you to networks that won’t otherwise be accessible.
As a pastor doing theology, these relationships and networks are vital, insofar
as they are no longer readily available in your pastoral vocation.

3. Publishing. The PhD remains the
intellectual’s best calling card. Resist it as a pretentious, elitist social
construct, but there it is all the same. And truthfully, a PhD demonstrates
that one has at least a modicum of intellectual firepower, as well as the work
ethic necessary to see a serious intellectual undertaking all the way through
to completion. There are other intellectual calling cards, of course, but a PhD
will help open doors for you in terms of scholarship and publication that would
otherwise require more vigorous knocking. This is not to say that publishers
will certainly look at your manuscript because you have a PhD or that they will
certainly reject your book proposals because you don’t. But it is to say that
having a reputable PhD at least earns you the benefit of the doubt. This is all
the more important given the fact that your vocation as a pastor will bring
with it assumptions about your intellectual caliber that may tend in the
opposite direction.

I’m sympathetic with Piper’s argument. Is a PhD
necessary for a pastor? Of course not. But helpful? A wise PhD is.
Here’s how Piper puts it:

If a PhD program is set up—and there are some!—to
really let you work on the Bible for three or four years and on understanding
its larger implications for life and reality, then, on your way towards the
pastorate, that could be gold.

Also, at the very end of the above video, Piper
concedes, “Maybe that’s an overstatement.” He is answering the question
based largely on his doctoral experience in Munich, Germany. In contrast,
I had very positive doctoral experiences that focused on sound exegesis and
theology.

(The last thing I want to do is suggest
that pastors without PhDs are inferior. The target audience I have in
mind is seminary students working on an MDiv or ThM who want to be pastors
and are wrestling with whether it is worth the time and effort to earn a PhD.)